rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
TROY — Troy parents speak out against the decision by the school board at last week’s special meeting.
On Wednesday, Aug. 25, two days before students returned to school, the board voted for a mask mandate, no exceptions unless health related.
Shortly after the decision was made, a Facebook group surfaced called Troy Area School District Parents Against Mask Requirement, which now has more than 700 members total.
Some parents were so outraged by the decision, they decided to do something pro-active to raise awareness to their problem.
Eileen Slater began taking signatures for a petition concerning the school board’s decision.
On top of the signatures, student parents reached out to this paper to give their personal statements on why they think the decision was unfair.
Below are statements made by three parents who decided to go on record about this situation:
“As a parent I am very upset that I cant make my own choice that I feel would be the best choice. It is none of their business making decisions for my child. I don’t know what kind of funding they are getting but this decision is out of line. For the last few years this district has been falling apart. Our kids are not getting a good education. It should be about what me as a taxpayer wants. It’s disheartening. My kids did not get an education last year. They dropped the ball. When any of them come up for re-election, I will do everything in my power to make sure they do not get re-elected. I feel that masks are a form of child-abuse.”
-Shane Spencer
“I have three boys, one going into Kindergarten, one entering third and one headed into sixth. Two of my children have auditory and phonological disorders. This means they don’t process hearing and sound the same as a typical kid would. My sixth grader has a 504 plan for this very reason, this means the school is supposed to make accommodations to assure his educational environment is adequate for him to learn as other kids do. My children rely on seeing what a person is saying as well as hearing them speak in order to grasp and understand what is being said. You can see how this puts them at a grave disadvantage. Having a teacher masked is removing the only crutch my children have at their personal disposal to try and keep up with their peers who do not have any type of processing issues. Furthermore, my seven year old came home in tears multiple times a month last year, stating he couldn’t hear his teacher, he couldn’t keep up in class because he couldn’t understand what was being said and done in the classroom. We did reach out to the teacher and nothing improved. I am sadden to say if my children have to face another entire year of this they could fall in to a deep depression and deepen their anxiety about the class room environment. My 5-year-old went to a daycare in Troy all last year, they did not mask the children at all, he will now enter into a class where he wont be able to see expressions and hear his teacher properly. There were no reported cases of Covid in the day care at all. We live in Burlington. At the meeting, no one responded to my concerns about children with auditory and phonological problems and how they would accommodate them in the class room at all.”
- Erin Barrett
“How can they vote last week that masks will be recommended, hold a special meeting two nights before school starts and vote again and make masks required? It’s not right. If I knew masks would be required last week, I would of pulled my child from the district, and found alternative schooling. She was so excited to go back to school. So excited she could CHOOSE to wear a mask or not. That choice has been taken from her. Other school districts in Bradford county are making it optional. How does Troy have any right to change this so last minute. If the CDC “recommends” masks, then Troy Area School District should recommend masks, not require. Please help our students! Please help us keep our freedom. The Freedom that the United States was built on. Please!”
- RaeAnn Rathbun
Editor's Note: As of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has mandated masks in all K-12 schools and daycares.